Time to continue my annual revisit of Jane Hart’s informative 2020 top learning tools survey as I reallocate where I want to spend my online time during retirement.
In the Top 100 Tools for Personal Learning (PL100) LinkedIn was rated 8th, in the Top 100 Tools for Workplace Learning (WL100) it was rated 3rd and in the Top 100 Tools for Education (Ed100) it did not make the Top 100.
LinkedIn Learning was ranked 14th in the PL100, 24th in the WL100 , and again did not make the Top 100 Tools for Education.
After studying the materials in Jane’s LinkedIn Quick Guides and reviewing my past writings about the experiences of me and my students with LinkedIn and LinkedIn Learning, I have come to the following conclusions.
- I continue to get a return on my investment from my LinkedIn Premium account (See screencast below).
- I continue to discover features of LinkedIn that I was unaware of or that NOW are useful to me.
- Clearly my present needs for LinkedIn are different now that I am retired than when I first joined. Just as clearly, LinkedIn has changed across those years.
- I continue to “meet” interesting new people on LinkedIn. Indeed, I am now mentored by a 16-year-old from Mumbai, India who models some of the best LinkedIn networking skills I have ever encountered!
- LinkedIn has proven to be an invaluable tool for my following (and occasionally positively shaping) the career development of former students.
- It has enhanced my ability to stay in touch with former students, faculty, staff, administrators, and trustees in a professional relationship.
- Though I tend to track news feeds such as the The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, The New Yorker, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and The Atlantic, I nonetheless am often informed by the LinkedIn newsfeed or by articles (e,g. from the Harvard Business Review, Forbes, and the Wall Street Journal) shared by other members from the LinkedIn community.
- I have learned the magic hashtag combinations that were I to use them, would engender a wide-ranging readership or even comments from LinkedIn Legends! But I have resisted the temptation.
- Just as I have identified a small number of individuals I find value in following on Twitter (and which list I regularly re-evaluate) I have similarly identified a small number of regular LinkedIn contributors who expand my perspectives, write well, and provide me valuable insights.
- I hope that my contributions on LinkedIn similarly provide some added value for those who take the time to read them. LinkedIn has proven to be a useful component of my plan for continuous learning.
